Things you didn't know about... Rotherham

Dolly comes to Rotherham
Legendary country singer Dolly Parton opened the first UK branch of her Imagination Library in Rotherham. Funded by Dolly's charitable Dollywood Foundation, the library sends a book to local children once a month from their birth until they are five years old.

Bridging the gap
One of only four surviving bridge chapels in the UK can be found in Rotherham. The 15th-century Chapel of Our Lady of Rotherham Bridge (also known as the "Chapel on the Bridge") on Chantry Bridge was restored in 1923. It had served previously as the town jail and as a tobacconist's shop.

Rotherham metal wins wars
Rotherham iron and steel were highly regarded, and the town produced the cannon for the HMS Victory. The industry thrives today: Corus's modern steel works now produces up to 25,000 tonnes of steel in a week—more than the old hand mills could produce in a year.

Rotherham rejected Jamie Oliver
Rotherham children rebelled noisily against Jamie Oliver's healthy eating campaign for schools. The mothers were equally unimpressed by the efforts of the chef: two of them, Julie Critchlow and Sam Walker, set up a delivery service supplying school kids with hamburgers and pies.

Rotherham, breeding ground for comedy
Love them or hate them—there is no middle ground—moustachioed comedians the Chuckle Brothers are from Rotherham. Remarkably, Loaded magazine launched a campaign for the brothers to be knighted for their services to comedy.

Rotherham's heart of glass
A brick-built glass-making furnace, the Catcliffe Glass Cone, is the oldest surviving structure of its type in Western Europe, dating back to 1740. It's said to have held prisoners-of-war in World War I. During a 1926 industrial dispute the cone was used as a canteen for feeding children.

Rotherham—the beginning and the end for Pulp
Jarvis Cocker and his band Pulp played their first gig at the Rotherham Arts Centre in 1980. After a career producing such hits as Sorted for Es and Whizz, and Do You Remember the First Time?, they played their last gig there too, in December 2002.